Bohaterów Monte Cassino Street
Locals call it Monciak, and once you are here you will hear the nickname everywhere. Bohaterów Monte Cassino Street is Sopot's showpiece promenade, a pedestrian zone closed entirely to cars, running from al. Niepodległości down to plac Zdrojowy. Restaurants, cafés and clubs line it, and in season it is one of the busiest places for visitors in the whole Tricity, so expect company.
The line of the street is far older than its cafés. In the 17th century this was the track linking farming Sopot, today's Upper Sopot, with the fishing settlement on the shore. Its names tell the rest of the story: under the Free City of Danzig it was Seestraße, Sea Street, with several hotels along it; after 1945 it carried the name of Konstanty Rokossowski until 1956, before it became the street of the Heroes of Monte Cassino.
From its upper end the promenade dips through a tunnel under the four-track railway and, a few dozen metres later, opens onto plac Konstytucji 3 Maja by St George's Church. Look for the small figure of the "Parasolnik", the Umbrella Man, a once popular local character whose friends placed him here. Beyond the square the street tilts sharply downhill past caricaturists, painters, souvenir stalls and the seasonal garden terraces of the restaurants.
One thing you will not notice: farther down, beyond plac Zdrojowy, Grunwaldzka Street now runs beneath your feet in a 100 m road tunnel built in 2007 and 2008, so no through traffic cuts the promenade any more. Seen from the top, the street's continuation is the pier itself. For now, walk downhill just 110 m, about a minute, until a building that looks drawn rather than built tells you that you have reached the Crooked House.
